Try GamingFM’s Name that Game Contest. I thought my level of geekery in regards to game music was decent, but this contest has humbled me. I can only get three with any degree of certainty, even though many do sound familiar. Here’s my list so far: Sounds like it could be Halo? I don’t have it, so I can’t tell for certain. Confirmed, thanks Boy! Arg. I know this, but I can’t figure out from where. Earthworm Jim 2 –…

There are many gaming-related weblogs out there, all with the default syndication options enabled — so there are many such feeds out there. However, one thing that has always been difficult to track down is a gaming news feed. There is the news aggregating GameTab, which rss-ifies the latest headlines, but I’ve always found it limited as it only displays the headlines with no excerpts or briefs. Yesterday, to my surprise, I discovered that Gamespot now offers RSS feeds. Useful.…

I want this Samus action figure. There are Animal Crossing plush figures!? Compared to Olyntho Tahara’s models, though, the previous toys are piss-poor. I especially love the Babylon 5 cast figures. The Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell: Innocence sites have new trailers! Speaking of which, the Silent Hill 4: The Room trailer has a very strong The Ring video feel to it. I was going to comment about the full, 300MB Paris video that is making the rounds (the…

I’m hesitant to use the word “addiction” as that’s been bandied about in regards to many, many articles about “media addiction”, and I don’t want to associate myself with that bunk. Instead, I think the proper term is “obsession.” Yesterday, I acquired R-Type Final, WipeOut XL (for $9! How could I have possibly passed on that?), Europa Universalis: Crown of the North and Cossacks: European Wars (on clearance, $9). The last two of which were purchased to quell the strategy…

Oh how fortuitous! My first payday in many months happens to land in Metroid Zero Mission release week. Technically, it comes a few days after the release date, but these are the situations for which Visa was created. Ahem. I was going to briefly check out the game before going to sleep. Without realizing it, “brief” became about two and a half hours long. I enjoyed every second of it. This is the game that Metroid Fusion should have been.…

You know how it goes by now: Thunderbird 0.5 is available, as is, er, the browser-formally-known-as-Firebird 0.8 (which was formerly known as Phoenix). Great browser and all, but this constant name changing is getting tiresome. Firefox? Bah. It ruins the whole “bird” connection with Thunderbird, which should have — logically, one would assume — been renamed Thunderfox anyway. Large scale open source lesson: never leave naming and branding in a programmer’s hands! That beef aside, the browser is still good…

Didn’t know the Grammys were today. Didn’t care. Then my sister IM’ed me with something akin to “Christina Aguilera is actually wearing clothing! Being all anti-controversial”. At which point, I switched channels and began the two way barrage of interjections and insults. It made the whole experience watchable. The truest thing said, though, was: “I was watching an award ceremony, and a concert broke out.” I thought it was going to be an award show, but very few actual awards…

Eating dinner at the Outback Steakhouse — a generic Australian themed restaurant chain — I thought: are there Canadian themed restaurants in Australia? Ones with hockey sticks on the walls instead of boomerangs; pictures of the Rockies and of Beavers instead of Ayer’s Rock and Koalas; the mens washroom labeled for hosers instead of for blokes; and dishes with names like “Toronto Ceaser Salad” instead of “Brisbane Ceaser Salad”? Then I realized just how tacky and faux-authentic the whole experience…

Forget those multi-million dollar Super Bowl commercials (which I never would have seen — had I cared — thanks to stupid Canadian simulcasting). Instead, enjoy cheesy and nostalgic 80s commercials! It’s a shame that most of them are Real Media, as that rules them out for me (and, hence, no Kool-Aid Man breaking through a wall), but the standard format clips they have are good. Can’t say that I remember them, though. I know the Zelda commercial, but that’s thanks…

There was some sort of game today. Something to do with a breast. I don’t know, I wasn’t following it. I was watching Shall We Dance on TVO instead. How’s that for counter-programming? Quirky film. Anyway, I have updated my RSS feeds to be more complete and valid, using these MT templates. I’m not sure if I like the idea of a full content feed, as that defeats the purpose of syndication, but I’ll try to see how it fits…

When dealing with Japanese games, there’s a cetain expectation for lousy localization. It’s a historical prejudice rooted in the days when games were low on text, lacked writers and translators, and were low on budget. Those days, quotes as Congratulation. The story is happy end. Thank you. were the norm rather than the exception. The “All Your Base” meme is a perfect example of this. Writing has drastically improved since then, but outside of the video game context — compared…

Up to mid-January there were, by my recollections, no more than two signifcant snowfalls this season. Then, the weather started to conspire against me. A few weeks ago, I had an interview (at the other end of the city): it snowed, and it was slow. A week later, I was asked to come in for a follow-up interview: it snowed even more. Then I got the job and went in for my first day: it snowed even more and, with…

This monday, after nearly a year of pseudo-freelancing and genuine-slacking, I make my return to full-time work. I will be, once again, a productive member of society. That’s not to say that my away time has been unproductive, as I have finally beaten Grand Theft Auto 3: Vice City, it’s just that my concept — my definition — of “productive” is slightly askew of the accepted norms. Besides, seeing as my official title will be the overly specific “Flash Game…